A Moment of Clarity…

Today seemed like just another day, but upon reflection it really wasn’t. After spending yet another week traveling, I was more than ready to come home. I was looking forward to regrouping over the next several weeks. It’s nice to really dig in and get some work done around the house. Normally I’d be off jet setting on yet another trip almost as soon as I got home, but I have a bit of a breather this time. It’s nice.

The news that really shook things up today is that our Newfoundland house might finally sell. After sitting on the market for almost two years with crickets chirping, we may finally have a buyer. It’s still to early to tell if the deal will hold up, but it’s the first serious interest we’ve had in the property. Something so small may not seem like a big deal, but selling this house will change everything for us. With this glimmer of hope I can maybe see a different future ahead for us.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

One of our dreams has always been having a place to call our home. We had that in Newfoundland but had to move away for work. We’ve been trying to recreate that same experience in Vancouver, but we’ve been unsuccessful so far in breaching the housing market. This shouldn’t come as a surprise; if you’ve read anything in the news about it – you know that is quite a lofty ambition. If you aren’t quite sure, just Google “Vancouver” + “housing market” + “foreign investors” and you should get some very interesting reading material. Long story short, Chris and I have completely given up on making that dream happen.

As a result, I’ve felt pretty down and had to do a lot of soul searching this week. What are we living for and what does our future look like? Where do we see ourselves in 5, 10 or 15 years? When do we want to retire? You never know what the future holds, but I function best when I am hungry. For me, goal setting often leads to a much more confident and empowered state of living. I’ve gotten to where I am today by planning, re-planning and dreaming really BIG. One of my favorite quotes says it best:

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”
-Lewis Carroll

Living Your Best Life With Travel

At the end of the day I want to live my best life. I want both of us to. I don’t want to spend all of our money on the American Dream if the price tag is going to be too high. WHO says you need to: finish school, get engaged, get married, have kids, buy a house with a white picket fence…etc. Any day of the week I’d trade those things in for those that really matter: happiness, health, love, laughter, travel and adventure.

And so because of this focus we came together to formulate a new life plan.

(Don’t worry this isn’t a “quitting our jobs to see the world” kind of revelation. I personally haven’t had one of those yet and still think it’s a horrible and irresponsible idea. We can’t all be gallivanting around the globe or society as we know it would collapse. That and Chris and I love our 9-5 jobs way too much to give them up. I didn’t go to school for 9 years just to throw it all away.)

Instead, it means looking towards the future and what that holds for us. It starts with a plan to:

Stop Spinning Our Wheels. We need to accept the things we can’t control and focus on the things we can change. We’ve learned that through open communication, honesty, kindness, forgiveness and a reset button, you can accomplish almost anything together.

Find and Maintain Happiness: We have to find out what makes us happiest and do that. Chris’ best childhood memories are from camping with his family. Mine are from cottaging at my grandparents’ cottage. We now live thousands of miles from our families, so we need to incorporate that into our new life together. We have a tentative plan to save up and buy an RV next summer so we can make new memories together.

Spend More Quality Time Together: The time I spend away from home is brutal. It puts our entire lives on hold whenever I am gone. With the RV purchase next summer, hopefully we can spend all of our weekends together camping and exploring our beautiful western backyard. It also means more time together. The added bonus will be that we can take all of our furry family members with us for no additional cost and no one gets left behind.

Look Into More Affordable Housing: We haven’t fully figured this out, but I think it involves finding an affordable piece of land that we can eventually call home. It means thinking outside the box as maybe Vancouver isn’t our “forever home” like we thought. I have always had a dream of building a gorgeous cottage-style log home to retire into where I can write full-time. (This is of course when I’m not traveling the world!)

Find More Adventure or Letting More Adventures Find Us: I think the core of this is that we both need to have more creative ideas and be more open to trying new things. We need to be less burdened by societal norms, routine chores and things that “need to be done.” There will always be another item on the checklist waiting to be crossed off. Sometimes you need to just forget about it for awhile and #getoutside.

Do Some Number Crunching: Since most of these plans need serious financial backing, some timelines and figures need to be calculated. Don’t let any travel blogger ever tell you that they completely get everything for free. I promise you that somewhere along the line there has to be a personal top-up of funds. The glimmer on the horizon for us is the Newfoundland house selling may allow some of the red to become black and make our dreams a reality quicker. It’s easy to say something…but when you dream really BIG, you need a heavy dose of realism, motivation and hustle to make those dreams come true.

Who really knows what life holds but I know I want every moment of mine to be spent fully present in the moment and enjoying them with my partner and best friend! Here’s where we start today.

30-something. Storyteller. Avid traveler and photographer. Cat lover. Carolynne is the the owner and founder of The Thirsty Tourist blog. When she is not traveling, exploring, or enjoying backyard adventures, she resides in Vancouver, Canada with her husband and 4 pets.